DC NBC Affiliate pisses off the entire state of West Virginia
December 20, 2009 - 2 Comments
by sbahns
UPDATE: 12/21/2009 The original post was removed from the NBC affiliate’s website, but you can read the text of the post on BuzzardBilly’s blog. HT to MtnLaurel for letting us know.
Well..not really, but it seems like it. I’ll be interested to hear if this gathers more attention over the next week or so or if it will fade away.
As most of us here at GossipDuck blog *from* West Virginia, it should come as no surprise that we too are a bit peeved about a recent story by an NBC affiliate in the DC area (which has a coverage area that includes, WV, BTW). The “reporter” wrote a ridiculous piece that is so incredibly ignorant and offensive that one wonders if it was simply written that way for publicity.
Well it really struck a nerve – and if publicity was their goal they sure got it. It seems that everyone I am friends with on Facebook posted a link to the story as well as two of the bloggers here at GossipDuck independently posted on their own blogs about it as well. Let’s highlight what everyone is saying, shall we?
Mountain Laurel:
The most offensive thing I’ve seen
I wanted to make sure everyone knew about this piece of electronic manure, but my blog buddy Buzzardbilly beat me to it. West Virginia Discovers the Internet | NBC Washington I’d say this is in the running for the Bigot of the Century award.
Lucy Pevensie:
Private: Dear D.C. NBC Affiliate: What’s Your Problem?
Dear D.C. NBC Affiliate: What’s Your Problem?: Sure, people make fun of West Virginia. Remember that Abercrombie t-shirt, “It’s all relative in West Virginia”? Nice. Now, a D.C. NBC affiliate has posted what must be the most assinine news story of the month: “West Virginia Discovers the Internet.” It’s got Cletus jokes, digs about in-breeding, and of course, outdoor bathroom humor. Two questions:
- How is this a ‘story’ at all?
- How is this appropriate?
Our local NBC affiliate (yes, D.C., we have TV here, too) doesn’t write fake news stories about latte-swilling yuppies from Alexandria who are up to their eyeballs in debt, find stimulating conversation about luxury appliances, and are named Madison and Craig. What gives?
Another blog from WV, Buzzardbilly: Appalachian Being had the following to say:
“I don’t know about you, but when I see the NBC brand on news, I expect the story to be news. If it’s The Onion, I expect satire. If it’s satire on NBC, I expect it to be labeled satire.”
From the comments on the original “story” are also pretty good:
“anonymous Your ignorance is surpassed only by your bias. WV was one of the first states to embrace the concept of the net. Because so many people live in rural areas and because they wanted schools to have access to good educational resources, the WVNET was established back in 1970s!
http://www.wvnet.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=276&Itemid=304
By the way, residents of WV are included in this media market so try to be less offensive to them.”
“anonymous Are you kidding? Is there news buried in the middle of any of these cheap shots and stupid jokes? Do you HAVE an editor or can anyone write anything on this web site …”
“anonymous Wow. As a lifetime WV resident, born and raised, I don’t even know where to begin! I have been nothing but loyal to you, News4, and this is how you betray me? By making fun of me? I don’t know what I ever did to you. I’m sure we’ve never met. Perhaps you should look at the map, so that you realize the entire eastern panhandle of the state is well within your media market. Now excuse me while I take my laptop and make a run for the outhouse. There’s a lot of snow outside this morning, so it will be more of a trek than usual. Hope my computer doesn’t freeze up while I look up the website for Fox5. I just…I mean…who even…just…wow.”
And lastly, my personal favorite response:
Facebook User I had to do a fair amount of clicking around on this site to make sure I wasn’t looking at a poor man’s version of The Onion. This *may* have been funny if it just wasn’t so patently ridiculous. “Poop” in their backyard? Last name “Smith” marrying another “Smith”? Could you have gone for a more common last name in the history of last names? Please provide me with a list of states east of the Mississippi that do not have a Jones marrying a Jones or a Smith marrying a Smith in their vital statistics. Because every state has these listed online, correct? I mean, if the backyard poopers can do it…
All you really managed to do here was plagiarize the Herald-Mail’s article, covering up your professional ineptitude by peppering your version with insults and “jokes” a 14 year old boy would be ashamed of. I’m sure you had a deadline to meet and need to find something to turn in, but you and your editors really did your organization a disservice by publishing this drivel.
Also, your site seems to work poorly in Google Chrome. Might want to get some internet savvy people working on that.”
…Anyone else want to add anything? 
Comments (2)
If you check back today, the item has been removed. I’m still waiting on an apology. I imagine I’ll probably be waiting a while. However, if you missed it Buzzard Billy has it on her blog in full text.
Thanks for letting us know!